Chapter 147: Fire at the hideout (1/2)

”Fuck!” Antion cursed under his breath. ”What was that all for? What was wrong with the place Layn choose for us to go and die like dogs in this damned forest?!” he protested, clearly agitated.

”Shush,” Pavrien silenced the man to his left. ”They are still close. You don't want to alert them,” he whispered, making sure to modulate his voice.

The two of them went a bit deeper into the forest than the rest of the expedition party due to Irea's personal order. And while the rest of the group was safely hidden away in a cave they cleared and blocked, the two of them were out trying to scout the situation.

”Don't tell me you are scared,” Antion countered after a moment, once he made sure the local defending forces couldn't hear him speaking anymore. ”Or could it be that you slacked on the training Layn put us through before we reached the camp?” he asked, unwilling to just let this junior of his get one better over him.

Even though Antion no longer held his position as the prefect, a part of the pride he had from his former job remained.

”You know fully well that it's not about being scared of those monsters,” Pavrien bounced the argument back as he started to slowly crawl back. In the thick vegetation, they were currently hiding, any attempts at standing up and retreating would be sure to catch the attention of the locals.

”Yeah, yeah,” Antion muttered back, unwilling to keep this kind of conversation going even if he was the one to start it in the first place.

Once out of the thick bushes, the two of Layn's mercenaries made their way back to the hideout of the rest of the group. Not only was the entrance to the cavern blocked, but it was also carefully concealed. Given how the monsters and animals alike were out for their blood, rather than just hiding the entrance with leaves and branches, Irea made sure to add some aromatic herbs to conceal their smell as well.

”We are back,” Antion crawled as far as he could without disturbing the delicate balance of the cover before whispering.

”Wait a moment,” a manly voice responded from the inside. ”Make sure nothing is watching,” a command followed before the entire cover of the hideout started to move.

As it turned out, the entire thing was created with a simple, wooden grate on which all the additional elements were hung or roped in. With this kind of design, one could seemingly just pull the thing away to reveal the cage itself, yet thanks to some additional bounds and locks from the inside, doing so would at least alert everyone inside in advance.

”So? What did you learn?” Irea asked the two as soon as they got inside and followed to the deepest part of the cave. Given how relatively small it was, it was yet another of the precautions their group needed to take to hide their voices from the monsters outside.

”The monsters are still scouting the area, but it doesn't look as if they were aware of our exact location,” Pavrion said in a low voice, following the general directive Irea gave before.

”I told you, this is the best moment to sally out,” Al insisted while patting his knee.

”It seems like this might be the case, after all,” Irea admitted as she bit her lips. ”Well, let's get going then. Nothing good will come from just straying here,” she decided before raising her eyes at the rest of the group.

Out of the eight people that set off for the journey, two were already injured. While they could still walk, Irea didn't have many hopes for them to keep up with the rest of the group if they really had to hurry.

Right now, the two injured mercenaries continued to recuperate their wounds by sleeping while allowing the few herbs that Irea found to do their job. Given how they could only hold their screams of pain with the utmost effort, they were put to sleep in a rather forceful manner.

”Great,” Al grinned. While he followed Irea's decision to keep their profile low during this mission, it was clear that he was brimming to get some fighting done. ”You go wake those slackers up, I will...”

Before Al could enlighten everyone on what he would do while Irea would be busy, the silent yet devastating sound reached everyone's ears.

The sound of the cover to the cave being torn apart as someone or something attempted to go through it.

”ON YOUR FEET!” As soon as this happened, Irea jumped on her feet and rushed towards the entry-throat of the place. While Al could boast the greatest physical strenght and ability in the entire group, she was, without a doubt, the strongest in general.

”ARGH,” as soon as the wounded people started to wake up, they inevitably released a loud moan of pain. This resulted in an increase in the speed at which their only line of defense was crumbling.

Now it was clear that the clash would be unavoidable.

”Prepare for the fight,” Irea said with a calm voice as if she didn't scream at everyone just a moment earlier.